Culinary Adventures with Camilla

As part of our soup and salad course, I created a duet of root-based salads. One featured celeriac, the other showcased a combination of beets, carrots, and radishes. And I put my brand-new mandolin to great use. I can't believe it's taken me this long to get one. It's outrageously easy. Salad One: Celeriac-Apple Salad A bright mustard vinaigrette is tossed with celery root and tart apples for a light salad with a delicious crunch. Ingredients  for the Mustard Vinaigrette 2 t Dijon mustard 2 T apple cider vinegar 3 T olive oil 2 T walnut oil (or you can use 5 T olive oil if you don't have any walnut oil) freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper for the Salad 1 medium celery root 2 medium tart apples (I had some Granny Smiths from our High Ground Organics CSA ) 4 medium celery stalks juice from 1 organic lemon 1/2 C fresh herbs, finely chopped 1/4 C toasted pecan pieces for garnish Procedure Whisk the ...

Preparing radishes this way take them from somewhat piquant to perfectly smooth. We love them prepared like this...and they were the perfect addition to my Putting Down Roots menu for Thanksgiving. I used pink radishes and some Black Spanish radishes from our High Ground Organics CSA . Ingredients 2 T butter radishes, cleaned, greens removed, halved or quartered lengthwise (see photo above for how many I used - 5 pink and 4 black) freshly ground black pepper freshly ground sea salt 1 T honey (I used a local honey) 1/2 C water 1 T fresh herbs, thinly sliced olive oil Procedure Use a pan large enough to hold the radishes without crowding. Melt the butter over medium heat, letting it brown slightly. Add the radishes, honey, and water. Stir to combine. Raise the heat and bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook until tender, about 20 minutes or so. Uncover, increase the heat to high and bring back to a boil. Cook for anoth...

I had intended to just serve roasted turnips, but I ended up having other roots that needed roasting. So my sidedish ended up as roasted roots, including purple top turnip, Black Spanish radishes, potatoes, and carrots, too. Ingredients 1 large purple top turnip 2 Black Spanish radishes 2 potatoes 2 to 3 carrots 1/8 t cayenne pepper 1/4 t ground nutmeg 2 T olive oil freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper 1/4 C shaved parmesan Procedure Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Quarter the turnip and radishes and slice into 1/4 to 1/2" pieces. Slice the carrots into 1/2" coins. Place the roots in a large mixing bowl. Season with cayenne, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Transfer roots to a rimmed baking sheet, lined with parchment paper and roast until golden on both sides, approximately 30 minutes. Turn them over halfway through baking. To serve, transfer to a serving dish and shave cheese over the top.

prepared by Kristina Scrivani at Stone Creek Kitchen  during their Spanish Tapas cooking class on February 24, 2012 1/2 lb prepared Bacalao 1/2 C shallot, peeled and minced 1/2 C whole milk ricotta cheese 12 pasta sheets 1 bunch chives, chopped fine egg white oil for frying Bacalao is a preserved, salted cod. To prepare it, soak in cold water for at least 8 hours. Drain, place in a large pot, covered with fresh water, bring to a boil and simmer for 3 hours. Drain and set aside to cool. In a large mixing bowl place flaked bacalao, shallots, ricotta, and chives. Mix well. Spoon prepared filling onto pasta sheet, brushing the edges with egg white. Fold edges in and roll tightly to form a "cigar." All to chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Fry at 350 degrees until golden brown.

Agro-dolce , in Italian, literally translates to 'sour-sweet' and this is recipe that I learned when I was in Rome, cooking cippolini onions this way. I figured the mixture of the honey and vinegar would counter the strong flavor of the black Spanish radishes. I was right! This was a delcious side dish or condiment tonight...and all you need: whatever you want to cook agro-dolce , some butter, olive oil, vinegar, water, honey, salt, and an herb of your choice. Scrub and slice the black radishes; slice cleaned leeks into coins. Cook the radishes and leeks with a pat of butter and a splash of olive oil until they begin to brown. Deglaze the pan with rice vinegar. Add water and continue to simmer until the radishes are fork tender. Season with pink Himalaya salt and fresh chopped dill. Stir in honey. I served this with steamed forbidden rice and a beer-poached salmon with shitake mushrooms and asparagus.

Just in case you've never seen a black Spanish radish, I hadn't, I wanted to show you these beauties, compared with a French breakfast radish. The black radishes are from my High Ground Organics CSA box; I picked up the others at the farmers' market.

Despite friends' claims that I am a culinary magician, I have kitchen flops. Yes, it happens...a culinary adventure gone wrong. Waaaaay wrong, in this case. I loved the look of the black Spanish radishes in my CSA box and thought I would prepare them as I had with the Tokyo market turnips sunomo-style , but I won't even justify that creation with a photo. Suffice it to say, when I asked for thoughts on how to cook the other two black Spanish radishes, Dylan loudly proclaimed: "Throw that in the compost bin! Throw them all in the compost bin!" Jake promptly took Dylan's suggestion on the prepared radishes while I rescued the others. But I plan to redeem myself tonight with a black radish agro-dolce, an Italian-style sweet and sour salad.  Recipes and photos to come...if it's blog-worthy.